International forum on resilience organized by the European Commission

On monday, april the 28th, the European Commission hosted the first forum on resilience and development in Brussels. The topic of resilience has gained a lot of importance in the sector of development in the last years and is closely linked to the question of sustainability (see, for example, our news from last week) . Resilience is about building capacity, at the individual as well as the community levels, to prevent and face natural and human-made crises worldwide.

The Forum was organized but the EC departments for Development and Cooperation (DEVCO) and Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO). It brought together Member states, partner organisations such as the UN, the World Bank, NGOs and civil society; as well as donors including the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

The European Union has developed a specific approach on resilience, with programmes such as AGIR in the Sahel and West Africa, and SHARE in the Horn of Africa.